And then there was Drumpf

May 4, 2016

Remember the good old days (back in February) when most people, thought Donald Drumpf’s candidacy for the Republican nomination was a rather tasteless joke?

I got it as wrong as most people, almost ignoring The Donald’s second place finish in Iowa and focussing instead on the winner Cruz and the also-ran Rubio, whom I foolishly thought were the main contenders.

And now, the day after the Indiana primary, two of the last three standing are gone. I have no fond farewell for Ted Cruz (who completely creeps me out), but I am disappointed in John Kasich (a candidate so nondescript and uninspiring that he didn’t even make it into the original photo above). Obviously the Ohio governor had no chance of catching up to Drumpf, but he should have hung in long enough to offer a saner choice to the saner Republicans of California.

It is almost (though not quite) unbelievable how ugly things have turned since the Iowa primary.

The tent of Drumpf (the quintessential Ugly American, who doesn’t need to leave the USA to offend every other culture on Earth) is huge. It has swelled to accommodate every racist, misogynistic, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic bigot in the country.

Of course these people – cloaked in the Stars and Stripes and generally clutching Bibles – have always been there, lurking in the fetid swamp of ignorance: the “poorly educated” whom Drumpf adores. Thanks to Drumpf they have emerged from their twilight worlds of militias and white supremacy and are now basking in the sunshine. And they are a sickening sight.

As I’ve previously noted, there is apparently no Republican candidate too stupid for large swathes of American voters to embrace.

Deja vu

I love Bernie Sanders. I loved him before he started his run for the Democratic nomination and I love almost everything he’s been saying as a nominee. I love the fact that his success – including last night’s surprise win in Indiana – is forcing the Democratic party to lean (if not actually move) to the left. I love the fact that his campaign has galvanised young people in a way that hasn’t been seen since Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 campaign. I love the guy.

Unfortunately the math appears to be against him. Clinton has more delegates at this stage than Obama did in 2008 and we know how that turned out. But Clinton fought on, leaving the field clear for the Republican nominee, John McCain, to slag off both of them, while they were busy slagging off each other.

I try to remind myself (and hopefully it’s true) that the primaries are the season of zealots, that the full electorate are moderately more sane. Polls, for whatever they are worth (not much if you look at last year’s UK election) suggest that 55% of Americans don’t trust Hillary Clinton. That doesn’t sound good – until you look at the polls that suggest 70% of almost every demographic think Drumpf is an asshole.

This is going to go down in history as the ugliest US election ever. And this shit is just the start.

(This, on the other hand, I’m pretty sure would actually make Bernie Sanders laugh.)